When you spend so long undervaluing your players or not getting the best value for money, it’s harder to gauge exactly how much they are worth when you do get bids.
Take Kai Kennedy for example, he’s only made one first-team appearance and is set to spend this season on loan at Dunfermline in the Championship, Nathan Patterson – at the same age – has made that much of an impact that the manager is considering changing formation to accommodate him.
A bid of £1million is said to be on the table from West Ham United, ordinarily this would be a decent offer for a youth player but when you look across England and some of the prices that are paid, it is a pittance – especially for a player who was named in UEFA’s Youth League team of the season, I can guarantee that some of the other players in that team are valued considerably higher with some of them featuring in senior squads for Real Madrid, Ajax and Red Bull Salburg.
Is £1million a fair price for Kennedy?
Yes
No
We have to value Kennedy at what his potential is, not what he is worth to the team just now. Billy Gilmour brought in £500,000 purely because we didn’t have much say in the matter and Chelsea were being generous, but with Kennedy, he is under contract until 2023, the ball is firmly in our court.
There is a reason the likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester City were sniffing about the Scotland Under-21 international when his last contract was running down, if West Ham really wanted him, they would have had to dig deeper into their pockets.